Hello Goodbye

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Every year, more than 1,000 words are added to the English dictionary. In 2016 alone, roughly 2,000 new entries were deemed worthy of inclusion.

With that many definitions expanding the pages of Merriam-Webster and Oxfords's already hefty references, one might think these books would have become bigger than the desks they sit on. But that is offset to some degree by eliminating other words that have become outdated.  For example, when was the last time you used a nephoscope (to study the movement of clouds) or called someone a snollygoster (a shrewd person with no principles)?

And so, out with the old, in with the new.  I know you're curious, so here are some of the recent terms that have made the cut:

FOMO
(an acronym for "fear of missing out")

YOLO
(an acronym for "you only live once")

fro-yo
(frozen yogurt)

TMI
(too much information)

clickbait
(a webpage that lures you in with a false pretense, such as "You won't believe what Ann-Margaret looks like now!")

Other new words include:

chargrilled

cussing

shoplifting

Huh?  By now you may be thinking you're reading a blog post from the last century, since we've been hearing and using some of those words for decades.  Why, all of a sudden, are they just now becoming official?  Part of it has to do with the billions of words written every year that are analyzed by databases and narrowed down as the most used by professional word nerds who spend their working lives making these very decisions.  I would find it exhausting, and think they should all be treated to fro-yo.

Fans of Roald Dahl will be glad to know that Oompa Loompa and scrumdiddlyumptious are now part of the English language. Vermiciouis knids, however, will have to wait until the next remake of Willy Wonka.

But here's a new entry specifically related to books and writing:

Urban Fantasy
(a genre of imaginative fiction featuring supernatural characters or elements in an urban setting; also : a work of urban fantasy)

Ever on the lookout for a million-dollar idea, I plan to create a genre called Suburban Fantasy, in which magical things happen to our yards and leaves no longer need raking.

You may or may not find a use for some of the above words, especially the trendier ones which come and go.  I doubt readers in 100 years will regard novels with an abundance of "YOLO" and "TMI" to be the work of unsung Hemingways.  But who are we to argue with Merriam or Webster?

Just as we said hello to some new words in 2016, we also said goodbye to some old friends. I'd like to end my last blog post of the year with my video tribute to some of those who, through their various artistic talents, have entertained and often inspired us. (video updated on January 1st, 2017) https://youtu.be/CFvu9ibxj18

Happy New Year, and may you have an endless supply of pure imagination in 2017.

Famous Songs Inspired by Real People

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

A couple of years ago on the blog, in a post called Songs in the Key of Life, I chronicled some famous songs whose inspiration came from real-life situations in the writers' lives.  In this post, let's look at a few hits that were inspired by real people, some as well-known as the songs themselves.  I suspect you'll know several of these origins already, but some may surprise you.

This one goes back a ways, but 60s songster Jimmy Dean's claim to fame (long before he became a sausage king) was story songs about people, some imaginary, some drawn from life. While "Big Bad John" was fictional folklore, "P.T. 109" celebrated the heroic Navy background of President John F. Kennedy a year after he took office.

Speaking of JFK, his young daughter Caroline would not only make the cover of Life Magazine at four years old, but Neil Diamond would be so taken with the photo of her riding her pony that he'd write "Sweet Caroline" in her honor.

Don McLean was just a paperboy "the day the music died".  He was deeply affected when he saw the headline announcing the deaths of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens.  But he kept the music going after all with one of his biggest hits, "American Pie".

While the lyrics sing of "Daniel, my brother", Elton John's "Daniel" was inspired by the story of a wounded Vietnam War veteran who came home to a hero's welcome but wanted only to go back to his normal life.  Meanwhile, his "Candle in the Wind", written in memorial to Marilyn Monroe in 1973, served double duty when he rededicated it in 1997 to Princess Diana, changing the opening line from "Goodbye, Norma Jean" to "Goodbye, England's Rose".

Some songs have more ambiguous origins, as in the case of "Dude Looks Like a Lady" by Aerosmith.  One story goes that Steven Tyler, spotting Mötley Crue's Vince Neil from behind, mistook him for a chick.  Vince himself contends that the song title came when he and Tyler visited a bar where the waiters wore women's clothes. Other rumors abound, but they all seem to have something to do with Vince Neil.

The list goes on, and I invite you to check out my latest video to see and hear a few more famous connections from the Top 40, below or at https://youtu.be/V278ljKTE3g

Inspiration for a song, a poem or a novel can be found everywhere you look.  It could even be the next person you meet.

Get Lost ... in Your Writing

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

In the March/April issue of Southern Writers, our popular feature "Magnolia Corner" asks the question:

Who do you trust to read your first draft?

The answers we received from Karen White, Cindy Woodsmall, Marji Laine, Joy Ross Davis, Randy Ingermanson, Stephanie Bennett, Bryan E. Powell, Hope Denney, E.E. Kennedy and Connie Chastain are as diverse as the genres they write in.

One thing they have in common is a degree of bravery.  It takes some fortitude to fork over your hard-fought words for their first reading.

An even more important trait they share is that of choosing those readers with care.  By making a discriminating selection, they are assured of getting constructive feedback which will be valuable for their first rewrite.

Getting to the end of a first draft is usually a mix of satisfying and scary, excitement and dread.  But your book has made it to the page from start to finish, and hopefully the rewrite can be met with the same enthusiasm.

But what if you're having trouble even getting to the end of the first draft?

The reasons are multitudinous, and here are some of the more common culprits:

• The story stalls midway through
• It's not as easy as you hoped
• It's not as perfect as you envisioned
• You gave someone a sneak peek and lost that initial spark
• You gave someone a sneak peek and let a discouraging word sink in
• You're self-editing and stifling your creativity

Even the most experienced authors can become their own worst enemy midway through the first draft by listening to the negative voices of self-judgment.

That's when many authors find it helpful to try to separate themselves from their writing.  Often, this is attempted by putting the project aside indefinitely (not the recommended choice, because it may never get returned to).  A more advisable method is to become the conduit, rather than the creator.

Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles, is a champion of learning to listening to inspiration.  He writes:

“This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.”

Remind me to look up "accrete".

Zen masters go on long journeys to find themselves.  In truth, they are really attempting to lose themselves.  Achieving the elevated state some call "no mind" may not sound easy to do when you're living with yourself 24/7, but in the creative arts it's well worth the effort (or better yet, just try letting go and not trying so hard).

By emptying yourself of the critical you, you make room for the inspiration and motivation that's trying to get back in.

When your creativity gets stuck, step outside yourself and stop, look and listen for what's just beyond you.  If you're lucky you'll get completely lost, and your story will bring you home.

10 Things Writers Can Learn from Frankenstein

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was only 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. While she wrote an impressive number of later works including poetry, travelogues, biographies and children's stories, nothing solidified her stance in literature like the story of a boy and his monster.

If you've ever poured your heart and soul into a writing project, you know it can feel like a matter of life and death to make the right words come alive. With props to Mary Shelley, here are tips from the crypt to give your creature life.

1. FIND THE RIGHT BITS AND PIECES
For all his faults, Victor Frankenstein was a discriminating monster maker, selecting only choice cuts that made the grade. Like a postmortem Paula Deen, he'd be quick to reject, say, a lopsided brain. We must be equally willing to discard a weak plot point or a character who drags our story down.

By the same token, we can bravely borrow tidbits of ideas from the vast laboratory of literature that already exists. Be a grave robber if the spirit strikes, and dig up elements of Treasure Island or The Shining to reanimate.
 
2. DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
Mary Shelley is said to have concocted her outrageous tale in a "waking dream".  Today we call that a daydream, and some authors do their best work when they are indeed away from the keyboard. Mulling over ideas while driving, walking, or lying awake at night takes away a surprising amount of pressure.

3. DRAW FROM LIFE
Shelley's original classic contains enough death to fill a mausoleum, but so did her personal life. Her mother, her sisters, even her own daughter, had all met with untimely ends, and the women in her book were no more fortunate. Mary's familiarity with the unfairness of death permeates her pages.

4. KNOW WHAT SIZE YOUR IDEA IS
Frankenstein was originally going to be a short story, but Shelley soon recognized it had too much potential to be caged in, and needed to be fleshed out.

5. INCLUDE A LITTLE ROMANCE
It'll never be confused with Casablanca, but like most popular stories, Frankenstein contains a hint of amor to keep the ladies interested.  Even the monster communicates his need to be loved, and asks the good doctor to sew up a spouse for him.

6. SET A TREND
Dracula may claim he's hundreds of years old, but Frankenstein beat him to the marketplace by a good eight decades. Frankenstein was the frontrunner of fear, the gruesome grandfather of all monsters to follow. Would that we all could craft a story so ahead of its time that future generations of writers will be forced to follow in our footsteps. If a newcomer of 19 pulled it off, why can't we?

7. MAKE THE FANTASTIC BELIEVABLE
This tale of messing with the laws of nature is no less science fiction than The Matrix. But what makes Frankenstein the chiller that it is, is the believability factor. We're not asked to accept alien life forms or devote mental energy to learning the workings of a fictitious subculture. Instead, we're fed possibilities with some basis in truth. In 1818 scientists had already proven that lifeless human tissue could be reactivated using electricity. It was just a hop, skip and a jump away to accept that a brain could start thinking again, and what might happen if it did.

If we're going to take readers on a fantastic journey, it helps to make sure it's not so fantastic that they can no longer relate to it.

8. ENGAGE IN FRIENDLY COMPETITION 
Frankenstein wouldn't have been written had Shelley and three of her writing friends not decided to compete to see who could write the best horror story.  A little motivation, obviously, can create a monster.  Today, writers who participate in National Novel Writing Month (just around the corner) or one of the other organized events for writers have found it a fun and communal way to breathe life into a manuscript.

9. DON'T LISTEN TO CRITICS
Mary Shelley's tale of terror was soundly rejected by the first publishing company that read it. And after it was published, critics dismissed it, condemning it just as much for the fact that it was written by a young woman as for its horrific subject matter. You'll do yourself a favor if you accept up front that your creation will be hideous to certain hapless townsfolk, who may seek to torch it. But in a very short time, Frankenstein found its audience, and so will you.

10. THINK SEQUEL
The Bride of Frankenstein was only the beginning, and of course we're talking movies now. Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein, Curse of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein; they only stopped short of International House of Frankenstein. The book you're writing right now could well be the beginning of a series. If you've created characters your audience can't get enough of, you don't have to stop at "The End". Leave that door partly open and you'll be able to walk right in again.

Writing isn't brain surgery, but we can take a few of these cues from Dr. Frankenstein.  If we do, we stand a better chance of being able to step back from our creation and maniacally declaring, "It's alive!"

The Thrill is Gone

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

After enjoying my favorite Chinese buffet this weekend, I clicked open my fortune cookie to reveal the following message inside:  

Change is not just essential to life. It is life.

Surprisingly, only minutes earlier, I had decided that my blog post for today would be about change. I don't know how Confucius does it.

What I do know is that last week, I had heard several different authors express the following rather curious sentiment: They talked about how passionate they are when they first come up with an idea, and how passionate they remain during its writing, but once they finish the last page, something changes. The passion that drove them is now replaced with a certain apathy.  No longer do they feel an all-consuming desire to share their words with the world.

What is it that makes the passion go away?

• Arriving at their destination.  Their vision centered around getting the story out of their head and onto the written page. For many writers that's all they ever really asked of themselves.

• Not wanting to take the next step. The fun part -- the writing -- is behind us. You mean now we have to find a market for it?

• Fear of failure. Nobody likes rejection, especially after slaving over a hot keyboard creating their masterpiece. If nobody sees it, then we're safe from criticism.

• Fear of success. Really? The idea that anyone would actually resist success sounds unbelievable, but we creatures of habit can be funny that way. Change is inherently scary, even when it's good.

There are more passion killers, but you get the picture.  When post-writing apathy creeps in and the thrill is gone, what can we do to change it?

We can understand that what we write has a purpose far beyond what we initially envisioned. Each of us has a message that is uniquely ours. When the muse compels us to write something, it should be our mission to make sure the world hears it. No one starts a writing project with a commitment that no one will ever see it (unless it's their diary).

We wouldn't be writers if we didn't have a voice that begs to be heard.  When the writing is done, make seeing it through to its destination the part that's even more fun. The real thrill comes when your writing changes someone else's life. And someone is waiting to be changed by your words right now.

Accepting Writing Ideas

by Candyce Carden-Deal

Writers make connections between unrelated things all the time. If we stay at it long enough, writing weaves its way into everything we do. It becomes a natural process. And if we stay open to these connections they can often affect our writing life.  Here’s an example. During yoga class last week, my brain leaped to writing although I was doing a decent job of focusing on deep-breathing.

We were in Easy Pose. In Easy Pose the legs are crossed with hands resting on the knees, palms turned upward. The open palms symbolize a posture of acceptance, or openness to accepting whatever comes our way. It's a great way to begin or end a yoga practice.

As I sat in Easy Pose ignoring the pain in my groin, I thought about the many writing and marketing ideas that flit through my brain on any given day. And how many I reject because they don’t come at convenient times. I usually continue to the next errand or the next email and hope that I’ll recall the idea when needed. And if I don’t, well, it probably wasn’t such a hot idea anyway. But what if, I asked myself, my half-formed unaccepted idea became someone else’s article sale because they acted on it? I peered at my open hands and wondered if I could apply this same symbolism of acceptance to the harvesting of writing ideas.

I could hardly wait to get off the floor. Once at home, and using Easy Pose as a springboard, I placed an opened blank journal on my kitchen counter with colored pens nearby. It’s in a location I pass many times during the day when I'm home. After just a little while, that opened blank page started calling to me like a magnet, saying, “Fill me.” And so I do. No matter how small or hare-brained the thought seems, I capture it in my waiting journal. What’s more, as I've grown in the habit of jotting down those ideas, I'm finding that harvesting ideas begets even more ideas.

I like my journal with its unlined pages. A sketchpad might be my next option. Both seem to scream for colored markers – another plus for this artist-wanna-be. But a legal pad would work just as well. So would a composition book. If you keep it small enough so it’s easily portable, you can always have it with you. And have it open.

I begin each workday by reading through my idea journal and transferring anything that I intend to work on to my daily plan sheet. My open book is a combination of both writing and marketing ideas. Some of the ideas don’t fit into plans right away, of course.  In this case, I tear the page out and throw it in a bin or file folder so it’s there ready for harvesting, sooner or later. It may never come to full fruition, but I feel good that I at least accepted it and gave it due diligence. 

__________________________________

A former educator and administrator, Candyce Carden-Deal is now pursuing the writing life full-time, which she blogs about at http://return2writing.com.

 

 

Ideas, Ideas—They’re Everywhere

by Robin Caroll

I’m often asked how I get ideas for my books. I always want to answer, “Where don’t I get ideas?”

I get character ideas by people watching. Now, my friends and family know I detest shopping. If I never had to walk into another mall in my life, I’d be happy. But with three daughters, that’s not gonna happen. Sigh. So when forced to brave the elements of humanity (although, I seriously question this—have you ever seen women at a 75% off sale act really human?) and venture into stores or malls, I watch people. I study them. Yes, even been known to snap a picture of one with my cell phone because of a certain hairstyle, or quirk, or expression. All of this information filters down and finds its way into a character.

Newspapers, television, and yes, even those true-crime shows all provide fodder for my plots. No, I don’t see something or read about it and then just change minor events for my story. I play a game called what-if. For example, I’ll hear a story about a woman who shot her husband for having an affair. My mind starts the game: What if the woman had hired a private detective to get the “goods” on her husband? What if the private detective had a grudge against the husband for some wrong years ago? What if the man wasn’t having an affair, but the private detective made it look like he was, just so his wife would kill him? Oh, what if the woman didn’t even suspect her husband was having an affair, but this guy who had a grudge against the husband pretended to be a private detective and sent incriminating evidence to the wife? . . . and so my mind goes.

I also get ideas from my own life. For instance, the germ of an idea for my most recent series, the Justice Seekers, came about due to a legal investigation my husband went through. I followed my research through court cases, trials, appeals, and sentencing, all the while observing how people acted and reacted. Then I started playing What If again…what if an FBI agent lied on the stand and an innocent person was convicted? What if a person witnessed a murder, but had no choice but to run? And thus the first book of the series was born.

Ideas are everywhere, you just have to look for them. Now, back to The Game. What if a writer was on tight deadline? What if she kept playing on email and the internet instead of making her word count? What if... 

Born and raised in Louisiana, Robin Caroll is a Southerner through and through. Her passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others. Robin’s mother is a genealogist who instilled in Robin the deep love of family and pride of heritage—two aspects Robin weaves into each of her 14 published novels. When she isn’t writing, Robin spends time with her husband, her three beautiful daughters and two handsome grandsons, and their character-filled pets at home—in the South, where else? She gives back to the writing community by serving as Conference Director for ACFW. Her books have finaled/placed in such contests as the Carol Award, Holt Medallion, RT Reviewer's Choice Award, Bookseller's Best, and Book of the Year. Visit Robin at www.robincaroll.com.

Olympic Gold Writer

by Annette Cole Mastron


Every four years my family and I look forward to the Summer Olympics. We favor the Summer Games because at least some of the sports we have tried, and we recognize the difficulties first hand. The opening ceremonies are always spectacular productions.

London's extravaganza was phenomenal and especially a treat to this writer. Amazing book characters and scenes came to life in snippets that make this writer want to revisit favorite and familiar pages. Hats off to film director Danny Boyle, who is most definitely a reader all authors dream will transform their work into film. Friday night's production, with the whole world watching, showcased some of England's authors' written work, transferring words into a live performance.

The opening ceremonies featured multiple sets and a cast of over 15,000

The mounded pasture scene, complete with farm animals, reminded me of the shire from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Boyle's vision for the scene was from A. A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh or Kenneth Grahame's Wind in The Willows. This scene, however, invoked the hobbits world for me.

The farm scene disappears while Shakespeare's The Tempest is quoted: “Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises.” Charles Dickens' scenes come alive through the evolution from a farm society into an industrial one indicated by five huge smokestacks.

A precocious pig-tailed child is seen closeup reading by flashlight under the sheets while nightmares swirl around her bed. J. K. Rowling read not from one of her books but from, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan: “Of all the delectable islands the Neverland is the snuggest and most compact, not large and sprawly, you know, with tedious distances between one adventure and another, but nicely crammed. When you play at it by day with the chairs and table-cloth, it is not in the least alarming, but in the two minutes before you go to sleep it becomes very nearly real. That is why there are night-lights.” A forty-foot Voldemort from Rowling's Harry Potter book series becomes the head nightmare, along with Captain Hook, Dodie Smith's Cruella de Vil character from 101 Dalmatians and Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland villain, the Queen of Hearts.

Guess which writer saves the children from the nightmares? Why of course, P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins. Thirty or more float with opened umbrellas into the stadium to save all children from the evil nightmares and bring light to their world.

By far the best of the best was Ian Fleming's, James Bond 007 character played by actor, Daniel Craig. Seen all spiffy in a tuxedo entering Buckingham Palace, stepping over the Queen's royal corgi pups and entering her palatial office standing at attention while she is in a pinkish dress seated at an ornate desk finishing the business of England. He clears his throat. She rises and simple states, "Good evening, Mr. Bond". They exit the palace and appear to be together inside a white helicopter with a British flag painted on the side. They fly past the landmarks of London. The helicopter door opens and the eighty-six year old monarch and 007 are seen leaping parachute laden from the helicopter into the inky night above Olympic stadium just like a scene from an Ian Fleming book. Moments later the Queen appears accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, and they make their official entrance to the Games. The Queen has a "wicked" sense of humor and must be a reader of spy novels. It was a bloody brilliant entrance.

So are you going for Olympic Gold? Will you write something that will become a classic for generations to enjoy? You'll never know unless you begin to write.

Have you gotten your free online copy of Southern Writers' anniversary issue yet? Get it now! www.southernwritersmagazine.com/july-gift.html 

A Moment of Inspiration

by Tammy Turner

Beating the tip of the flashlight against the ledge of the attic floor did nothing to help the dying batteries. As the sallow glow of the dimming bulb blinked and gasped, my hopes of being able to see any critters before they saw me died with the last of the dim luminescence.

Fearful hesitation kept my hand from searching too far into the darkness. The tingle of a curious nibble stung my palm. A colorful description of where he could put his mouth instead of my flesh escaped from my lips as I swatted at the creepy crawler and found a new purpose for the flashlight.

A sedimentary layer of dust scattered across the garage floor as I wrangled the cardboard box down the narrow attic steps and dropped the carton to the cement.

What are you waiting for now? It might not be inside the box. You’ll never know unless you try.

The white typing paper had yellowed. The paperclip holding the pages snugly together was flaked with rust.

“The Princess and Her Puppy,” I read aloud proudly the title of the short story my father wrote for me when I was still small enough to fall asleep in his lap as he read to me. “For my little girl,” I said softly to myself, pronouncing the words handwritten carefully under his typed name.

At the bottom of the page, I placed my own thumb against his fading fingerprint. In the middle of the paper there even remained a splattered coffee stain. Behind my squinting eyes, I remembered him standing at the kitchen counter, always with his mug in his hand while he read the morning paper.

“It’s my turn now.” I said the words aloud, my voice echoing off the walls of the garage like an exclamation point. I had an idea. After all this time, after all the excuses, I was not going to let inspiration slip away.

My yellow legal pad filled with words as thoughts poured onto the paper. There was no going back. My dream had always been so close, but without fail I would let inspiration slip through my grasp time and time again. Not this time.

“The Princess and Her Puppy” now resides on a bookcase next to my other favorite authors and even my own first attempt at literary immortality. I am certain my father would not mind sharing real estate with me.

Sometimes when the morning is quiet and I am sipping from my coffee mug at the kitchen counter, I stop and listen. I can hear him, my inspiration.

Pages rustle in my ears as my father flips through the newspaper. The booming sound of his voice knocks the cobwebs from my morning bleariness.

“Kiddo,” he says. “Tell me a story.”

I always smile and glance over at the bookcase. “I’m going to have to clear off a shelf one day for my own books, Dad,” I brag to him, knowing that somehow he has heard me.

_______________________________________

Growing up in the coastal town of Charleston, South Carolina, instilled an infatuation with history, mystery, and legend in Tammy Turner. From the time she could shuffle along behind her father, they would hunt for sharks’ teeth, explore crumbling cemeteries, and dig for lost pirate gold along the low country beaches.  

After years of talking about writing her own novel, she decided to put pen to paper and go for it. Tammy Turner's debut young adult fantasy novel, Falling into Forever was released June 5, 2012.  The struggle and thrill of creating Falling into Forever left Tammy eager to continue creating more adventures for her characters, and she looks forward to sharing more of their lives with readers.

Misfits!

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

In every aspect of our society there are misfits, those that just don’t fit the mold. We have seen this is in sports, arts, music and writing. 

In sports we saw this in the 1968 Olympics with a competitor in the high jump named Dick Fosbury.  Fosbury chose not to use the three common styles of high jump and came up with what was called the Fosbury Flop. Dick Fosbury flopped right into the record books with a Gold Medal.

In the art world we have Vincent Van Gogh. We look back at what we now recognize as a great artist and yet at his death at age 37, his accomplishments were known only to a small group and appreciated by even fewer. Many of his 2100 works are now priceless.

 

Music has many examples. The most famous was the little studio in Memphis called Sun Studios, owned by Sam Phillips. Sam created a studio where those who were unacceptable elsewhere were welcomed. Sam was recording at the time what was known as “race” music. In 1951 Sam recorded a Clarksville MS group called the Delta Cats with a piano player named Ike Turner. The song recorded was “Rocket 88” which is considered the granddaddy of rock n’ roll.

This led to a migration of many misfits from across the region. Musicians who didn’t fit the mold of southern blues, gospel, or country found their way to Memphis to record where they were accepted. Artists like Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Sam Phillips’ self-proclaimed greatest discovery Chester Arthur Burnett better known as Howlin’ Wolf, all came to follow their dream. 

And now we come to writing. Maybe you have yet to find your fit in the literary world. Maybe you have been told that your work does not fit the category or the category the agent or publisher represent. Maybe you have been told you don’t fit the mold. If so look at you potential. The misfits mentioned above went on to become very successful in their field. They kept on until they found the right fit. You must continue on until you find your right fit.

  

If you have an example of a writer that was a misfit and found their fit let me know. I would love to share their success with others. I am looking forward to hearing from you and I hope to hear that misfit that overcame was you.         

     

The Successful Road

by Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief

Experience has taught us that success is not an occurrence so much as a process. Regardless of where you are on the journey to becoming successful as a writer, there are always writers ahead of you and writers behind you as well as on each side of you. You are never alone.

As you progress forward on this road, do not fail to turn around and give attention to those who are behind you—the ones who have not come as far as you.

Funny thing about mentoring someone, during that process you will find you have learned a lot too. Someone told me the act of mentoring is neither completely gratuitous nor completely out of self-interest. Rather, it propagates the success process through others, creating a chain of professionalism, which strengthens with each new link, added.

No successful trait we possess is lost by sharing our knowledge with others, matter of fact, very few things are as rewarding as watching someone else become successful and know you had a hand in it.

Generously sharing knowledge with other writers is beneficial to you. It strengthens your foundation and it expands into the world layers of other successful people. Self-made? Not really; there are always people who helped along the way.

Someone said if you help enough people get what they want, you in turn would get what you want. Never refuse a writer who asks for help; they just may be that one person sent to help you achieve your own success.

So while you are on your journey take time to look around and see who you might can help along their journey. The trip is so much more enjoyable this way.

Forget Me Not

by Annette Cole Mastron


What inspires or reminds you to write daily? For me, it is a free app for my smartphone/tablet called "Vocabology". This is not an ad for a particular app; just the sharing of a cool tool that works for this writer.

Life tends to evolve daily and without a reminder, I will forget to write, daily. Like you I concoct stories in my head all the time but I have to be reminded to write them down. Once the app is downloaded you have an option to have a reminder sent to "feed your brain". Today, I open the app and was presented with words of the day "skulk" from Merrian-Webster Dictionary, "shower fluffer" from Urban Dictionary, "intromit" from Dictionary.com, "abridge" from Yahoo Education Word of the Day, "windpipe" from TheFreeDictionary Word of the Day, "triangulate" from Wordsmith.Org Word of the Day. There are also Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese words of the day. All words have options of the normal word origin, definition, parts if speech, etc. and there is even an option to hear the word pronounced, which comes in handy towards finding the voice of your writing. Love that all these options come to my phone and remind me to write.

So yes, it's time to write using the words of the day. After being intromited into a shower fluffer when my windpipe was struck by a temperature change, I had to abridge my time under the water. Skulking out of the bedroom fully clothed it was time to triangulate the chores of the day. Thus a story is born.

Stop laughing and pick up your pen or device and begin. Are you writing, yet?

The Apple of My Eye

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

The passing of Steve Jobs has made a profound mark on our country. Few individuals effect as much change in as few years as he. He revolutionized the way we interact and made our planet several sizes smaller through radical technological advances.

I wonder if we've contemplated our ability to go radical. Do we want to leave an indelible imprint like Steve Jobs? Or will we be a mere ripple in the waters that vanishes as quickly as it appears? As writers, we can take several cues from Steve Jobs which will catapult our impact from marginal to Apple.

Imagine

Steve saw the world from a different perspective. He contemplated things as they could be instead of how they are. We can read a book on platform growth and implement every strategy but if we don't know why we're doing the things we are, it's fruitless. 

Imagination is valuable for far more than characters and plot lines. We must envision our goal. Once we know where we are headed, our tweets, blog entries and Facebook posts take on purpose that reflects our passion. Imagine your writing career as you desire it to be and then plot a straightline path to it.

Innovate

Steve didn't just see the world different, he made the world different. As I survey the blogosphere and the book market in general I see a lot of the same. Everyone wants to write in the hot new genre. Writers flock to the latest posting trend. What if we decided to innovate instead of imitate?

Could you create a new writing niche? Might you be the first to crown Sundays as Soze Sundays and start a trend of concocting an entire story line in 30 minutes or less from a single object of inspiration? (Side note: Reference here the 1995 movie hit The Usual Suspects, in which the main character creates an elaborate lie on the fly based on the name Soze printed on the china cup the detective is holding.) 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. How would you like to be the one flattered for a change? Become an innovator.

Inspire

Steve Job's most significant impact might be his ability to inspire. Not only did he create and design the inconceivable, he influenced others to implement his dreams.

We wield the mightiest of weapons - the written word. It is powerful and effective but only when used to inspire others. Throughout history novels such as Uncle Tom's Cabin have shaped the course of history. It wasn't enough for Harriet Beecher Stowe to dream of a climate shift in America, she had to write the words that enacted change.

You may be like me and be tempted by the low-hanging fruit of a one-size-fits-all platform. When we choose to imagine, innovate and inspire we spring from bottom dweller to top picker. In other words, we become the apple of our eyes.

Take the Long Way Home

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

A few years back I had a boss who was fond of staff meetings, whether we needed them or not.  (In his defense, we usually needed them.)   In the course of these, he would often share a personal philosophy or something else unrelated to work.  Perhaps because it wasn’t always obvious why he was taking up time with something so apparently irrelevant, most of his wisdom went in one ear and out the other.

But not this pearl, which immediately got our attention: “Tonight, when you leave here, take the long way home.”  None of us had a clue what this had to do with anything. 

He added, “In fact, get lost.”

The staffers looked at each other with concern, wondering if this was his subtle way of telling us we were all fired, or if he simply had lost his mind and we were witnesses to the breakdown we secretly suspected would come eventually.  But before we called Lakeside – for him or for ourselves – he went on to explain.

“While coming into work today I took a wrong turn and wound up driving through a part of town I hadn’t been in years.  On my way here I saw a house painted pink, businesses I didn’t know were around, and a couple of kids drawing chalk pictures on the sidewalk.”

Taking all of this in, we were at least semi-assured we weren’t fired, though the second possibility remained on the table.  However, I’m happy to report that the reason he thought we’d benefit from this seemingly random advice was a rather creative one.

During the rest of his drive, he told us, he found himself thinking of pink houses and the type of person who would live in that house.  He considered whether they might be artists, and whether the kids on the sidewalk would grow up to be artists too.  He thought about a frame shop he saw right next to a Chinese grocery, and pondered what kind of framing is suitable for Chinese rice paper artwork.  His ultimate point was, he dwelt on things he normally wouldn’t have thought about, and on this particular day, it opened his mind creatively.

In honesty, we still didn’t quite get it, and those of us who preferred going straight home rather than waste time expanding our minds never altered our route, at least on purpose.  Years later, however, the truth of our boss’s suggestion has rung true many times, usually in retrospect.  Trying out a new restaurant has led to enlightening conversations with owners about why we like the things we like.  Visiting a sick friend at the hospital elicits strong reactions in the presence of countless details we don’t think about in daily life.  Even stopping for a moment at the mall to take in the hubbub can inspire elaborate imaginary stories about a complete stranger.

The muse is constantly feeding us ideas and information we can make use of in our writing, but we’re often too ingrained in our usual path and our typical way of thinking to notice them.  Looking back, haven’t some of your most original ideas come out of the blue when you’ve taken a road less traveled?

You may we wondering, as we did, why our boss told us to try his approach going home that night, instead of following his example the next day and coming into the office all inspired.

He didn’t want us to be late for work.